Juniata Softball Soars Past Elizabethtown

HUNTINGDON, Pa. - With 11 hits in the first game the Juniata College softball team downed Elizabethtown College 6-1, to open their doubleheader Wednesday afternoon in Huntingdon, Pa.

Despite a pitching change for each team in inning two of the second game, Juniata completed the sweep with a 6-4 victory, grabbing the win and improving their record to 13-12 overall and 5-3 in the Landmark Conference.

The Eagles started off the first game with three hits in the first inning of play. Junior Tara Carl (Duke Center, Pa./Otto-Eldred) scored from a shortstop fielding error that placed junior Liz Schmitt (Knoxville, Tenn./H. Frank Carey) on first. Sophomore Caley McCool (Spring Mills, Pa./Penns Valley) scored sophomore Stacy Nagy (Millerton, Pa./Troy) off a sacrifice fly to center field for the second run of the game.

Juniata picked their hitting back up in the fifth when sophomore Rachel Nagy (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth) hit a three RBI homer over the centerfield fence, scoring sophomore Sarah Eckard and Carl, who reached on a walk and a single, respectively.

The Blue Jays started off the sixth with a solo home run by Lauren Hoover, but were unable to continue the rally, having the next three batters pop up to infield positions.

Sophomore Alyssa Erb (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) was credited with the win, improving her record to 8-7, sending six batters back to the bench on strikeouts and allowing only five hits and one walk.

In game two, Elizabethtown began the game much different than the first, posting three hits and scoring two runs. Paige Tanner scored E-town's first run on a double by Sarah Church, who later scored off an Abbie Merrifield single.

Juniata answered back scoring five runs in the bottom half of the first. Schmitt sent a double to the centerfield fence that brought in Rachel Nagy, who reached on a single to center field, and Stacy Nagy, who got aboard with a walk. Schmitt then scored following a McCool single down the right field line. Senior Amanda Albanese (Hampton, N.J./North Hunterdon) hit her third double of the season, bringing in Jackie Morley (North Wales, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and McCool to put the game at 5-2.

The second inning was the last with runs scored for the second game. Tanner and Shannon Marsico scored off a two RBI double by Hoover.

The Eagles brought in only one run in the second when Carl came in on the throw home from Rachel Nagy's single to center field.

Juniata's Erb relieved junior Pam Mansell (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley) in the third inning, with three strikeouts, two walks and two hits.

Rachel Nagy finished game one going 2-for-3 with three RBI along with Stacy Nagy, who also went 2-for-3. Rachel Nagy continued her hitting in game two, with McCool and freshmen Melissa Moffat (Oceanside, Calif./Oceanside) all going 2-for-3 at the plate.

The Eagles will return to action Saturday, April 12, when they host the United States Merchant Marine Academy, a Landmark Conference rival, in a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m.